ProjectExoMoons – The formation and detectability of exomoons
Basic data
Acronym:
ExoMoons
Title:
The formation and detectability of exomoons
Duration:
01/02/2021 to 31/01/2024
Abstract / short description:
All larger planets in the Solar System have natural satellites. Especially the ice and gas giants harbour together over 200 moons, and even less massive objects like dwarf planets are orbited by compan- ions. From their abundance in the Solar System one might deduce that moons are common objects in extrasolar systems around exoplanets. Several formation channels are discussed: the formation of moons by capture, the formation by giant impacts, and the formation of exomoons by agglomeration in a circumplanetary disk. Up to now, over 2600 exoplanetary systems that contain over 4000 plan- ets have been discovered. The observations show that the most abundant planets are super-Earths (planets with 1-20 Earth masses) with orbital periods shorter than 100 days, followed by giant planets at distances of 1-3 astronomical units (au) from their central star. However, there is no confirmed de- tection of an exomoon until the present day, mostly due to the current generation telescope sensitivity which is on the verge of being sufficient to detect massive exomoons around massive exoplanets. In this proposal, we intend to study the formation of exomoons by giant impacts on ice and gas giants.
Involved staff
Managers
Kley, Wilhelm
Faculty of Science
University of Tübingen
University of Tübingen
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAAT)
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAAT)
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
Other staff
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAAT)
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science
CRC-TR 7 - Gravitational Wave Astronomy
Collaborative research centers and transregios
Collaborative research centers and transregios
Local organizational units
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAAT)
Department of Physics
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Science
Funders
Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany